Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution, Vol. 12, No. 3 (2015), pp. 51–57. DOI 10.3233/AJW-150006 The Garden Foggara of Timimoun (Algeria): The Decline of Hydraulic Heritage Remini Boualem*, Albergel Jean 1 and Achour Bachir 2 Department of Water and Environmental Sciences, Blida University, Blida, 9000 Algeria 1 IRD Montpellier, French 2 Larhyss Laboratory, Hydraulic Department, Biskra University, Algeria * reminib@yahoo.fr Received February 4, 2014; revised and accepted May 21, 2015 Abstract: The foggara has been used for centuries for irrigating gardens of the Timimoun oasis. The most famous foggara in the region is one that collects water from the Continental Intercalary aquifer (classic foggara). We conducted fve missions (2007, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014) in the Timimoun oasis to another foggara that is less studied. It is a small foggara that collects water seepage and leakage of water from the classic foggara. Not exceeding the 1500 metres in length, this foggara is located in the gardens. We call it the garden foggara. In 2010, of the seven foggaras (operating) recorded, the Zahzaa foggara is the only one remaining and is operating at a low discharge. But in 2012, this foggara has dried. Key words: Foggara, garden, oasis, timimoun, water. *Corresponding Author Introduction Arid regions are characterized by low rainfall or very limited surface water. Faced with this hostile environment, the ground water reserves mainly constitute the base of formation of the oases. To tap the water table, man frst used traditional wells that were based on human or animal effort. It is a technique with low yield signifcant energy to have a low fow. Over time, man has improved the water catchment system with the invention of the galleries technique. This technique appeared in the North West of Iran for the frst time in 3000 years (Goblot, 1963, 1979; Wulf, 1968; Kazemi, 2004; Stiros, 2006). This is one of the most beautiful inventions in the hydraulic history. Due to the success of this irrigation system in the Iranian oasis, it has been adopted in thirty arid countries under different names (Hoffman, 2007). A recent study showed that the foggaras were exploited in 52 countries of the planet (Remini et al., 2014). The galleries is known as the qanat in Iran (Goblot, 1979), foggara in Algeria (Arrus, 1985; Kobori, 1982; Guillermou, 1993), khettara in Morocco (Lightfoot, 1996; Ben Brahim, 2003), the Karez in Afghanistan (Kahlown and Hamilton, 1994), falaj in Oman (Abdel Rahman and Omezzine, 1996; Al Marshudi, 2001, 2007) and qanat Romani in Syria and Saudi Arabia (Kobori, 1990; Lightfoot, 2000). In addition to the large number of tunnels dug in arid areas: 50,000 foggara in Iran (Ghorbani, 2007), 1400 foggaras in Algeria (Arrus, 1985; Remini et al., 2010; Remini et al., 2011), 4112 Afaj in the Sultanate of Oman (Al Gharf et al., 2003), and 300 khettara of Taflalt in Morocco (Ben Brahim, 2003), the farmers have improved these techniques to increase the water discharge. Thus, various models of foggaras were developed in Iran and Afghanistan for irrigation and drinking water. For example, the lack of water surface in arid regions has been replaced by a special